An Adventure in Success
Cardinal Flower
Every August, the Cornish Fair seizes our town with a particular kind of madness. Everyone gets sucked into a whirling vortex of non-stop activity, in both cheerful cooperation and goodnatured competition. We all help to set up and man the various exhibits. We enter the year’s best efforts—jumbo pumpkins, sleek heifers or exquisite quilts—in hopes of bringing home the year’s blue ribbons.
I usually enter some of my garden’s best vegetables and a few flower arrangements. This year I felt uninspired by the few cultivated flowers I had on hand for flower entries. I needed to rely on blossoms from the wild. At this time of year there’s not much. New Hampshire tends to be awash in Queen Anne’s Lace, Goldenrod, Purple Loose Strife and Joe Pye Weed. So, these end up in people’s wildflower arrangements again and again . . .
I set a personal challenge for myself that inspired me to action. I wanted to see if I could create a wildflower arrangement with a beautiful array of unusual wildflowers. Two years ago, while kayaking on the Connecticut, I spotted a scarlet blaze of color. A lone stem of Cardinal Flower. If I could find that flower, I would use it as the starting point for a stunning arrangement and that might inspire me to enter more arrangements.
I went for an evening kayak. The river was flooded from a recent heavy rain and running swiftly. It was a slow upstream paddle. After about a half hour, there it was. One glorious stem of red. It’s never a good idea to take the last of one of anything, whether it be a piece of chocolate or the single representative of a plant species. I figured that further upriver I might find more.
I dug my paddle deep in the current to get some momentum and was startled by a flash of scarlet. Then another. And another. I was surrounded by cardinal flowers, all awash under the flood waters, like so many strange Ophelias. I carefully brought five sodden stems home, placed them in a vase, and overnight a miracle occurred. They all stood strong and bright announcing their place in the world.
After a morning of foraging, I had everything I needed to make an arrangement of glorious August color: a spiky, yellow Mullein flower, one perfect purple Thistle, some white Yarrow, shiny red and gold Viburnum berries looking like so many tiny perfect apples, a little Queen Anne’s Lace and Purple Loose Strife.
The arrangement did take a first at the fair, but my real prizes were threefold. The joy and wonder I experienced in my various foraging expeditions. The creative burst that energized me to try my hand at some other entries, bringing me from the periphery to the heart of this lively community event. The inspiration that I received from imbibing nature’s beauty both in the wild and the resulting arrangements. A week and a half later some of the Cardinal Flower is still as vibrant as the day it was picked.
Sometimes the creative process needs a little jump-start to get us going and keep us moving forward: an interesting challenge; some internal cheer-leading; or some plain old-fashioned physical activity to raise our energy. It doesn’t take that much and it’s worth it!
What creative undertaking in your life needs a little motivational spark? How will you do it?
Celebrating your creative spark!
Eliza
Creatives’ Coach Eliza Bergeson is the author of The Yes! in Success: How To Be The Star You Are And Live The Life You Love.
She works her magic with creative individuals—entrepreneurs, speakers, writers, visual and performing artists; people who are ready to transform bright vision into gratifying outcomes in their businesses and their lives. If that sounds like you, visit her site, www.elizabergeson.com, for more FREE success-building resources.
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